New NEET Gamers website.

This became a pandemic when more people starting to abuse this exploit for their own gain.  I myself have witnessed it being done on both ends, being blockaded or watching survivors melee the generator helplessly hoping it would move an inch.  Valve has had complaints and even seen it happening in game and thus they took action.  Of course, they waste no time in patching up this exploit for the PC version of the game, it would take a few months before Xbox 360 owners would be able to play No Mercy without the fear of being blocked.

However, with one exploit down, a few more have taken their place.  The abundance of the “Powershot” exploit and the “Ghost clawing” are being recognized by more and more players in the Left 4 Dead Community.  As it grew to be a problem, Valve took action in beginning to fix these two exploits in which hamper gameplay to an extent.  But, they only patched the PC version.

The console version of the game has been left untouched since the Survival Pack DLC it obtained in April.  And those few months in between, the ability to use these two famous exploits have increased with at least one person on probably every team knowing how to do the “Powershot.”  It presents problems within gameplay as it ruins the gameplay balance for some or a select few would use the exploits as an excuse to just backlash at good teams.  Despite the hefty drawback of “powershooting,” it still presents itself to be an annoyance if players choose to use it during gameplay.  Having a Tank lose 80% of his health in 2 seconds from a distance isn’t something players would enjoy.

“Ghost Clawing” is something that is impossible to prevent unless that player is kicked.  The means of doing so are also quite easy that almost anyone can do it if instructed.  Having a whole team deal at least 20 points of unavoidable damage to a survivor at once really disrupts the balance the game somewhat has.  Even if “Ghost Clawing” may take a significant time before it starts showing signs of harming a team greatly, the fact it is there able to be used by the hands of anyone presents the increasing problem it has.

Though, it makes me glad that Valve will be addressing these problems in the new DLC that is supposed to be coming out in the late summer, more or less August.  It would have been nice if they just shipped the small patch a bit earlier so the Xbox community for Left 4 Dead wouldn’t have to suffer at the hands of exploiters.  The ability to quickly go on Youtube and look up millions of tutorials on how to do these exploits really is troublesome.

Now don’t get me started on the 360 version of Team Fortress 2.

Out of all the shows that were premiering this summer season, I told myself that Princess Lover! was going to be one of the few shows that I wasn’t going to touch with a fifty foot pole. It looked like it was the manifestation of everything that I’ve come to hate from budget adaptions of c-tier eroge visual novels: the plot sounded boring, the animation for the anime looked really shitty compared to the VN, 90% of the cast had breasts the size of a fetus, and the anime was bound to follow the path of the ugliest girl with the biggest breasts out of them all. However, after much persuasion from terrible people who seemed to actually be enjoying this show, I finally gave the first episode a chance…

All I can say is holy crap… am I watching the right Princess Lover! here? The premise of the show that the first episode introduced to me was not what I was expecting at all, and it managed to surprise me in the best possible sense. The lucky lad at the center of this harem is named Teppei; not only is he an average-joe stuck in the very middle of the society chain, but he’s also quite proficient in the art of swordplay, and he’s a “badass” for lack of a better term. The first episode opens up simply enough with a touching look at Teppei’s family life, but it’s there when all illusions of this being another lame show stop getting fed down your throat. His family ends up getting assassinated by an unknown killer, and now Teppei’s main motivation is to seek vengeance for his fallen parents. He gets picked up by his godly grandfather who’s voice by Norio Wakamoto (reason enough to watch this alone) who’s the head of the world-renowned Arima business conglomerate; however, he doesn’t give a damn about being the successor to the business, as he only moved in with grandfather so he can get closer to the guy who killed his parents. Oh, I also forgot to mention that he saved the main heroine on the way here in one of the most badass action sequences I’ve ever seen in an anime such as this. It involves cars chasing carriages, impossible motorcycle stunts, combat butlers, and FUCK YEAH Teppei moments. Any sort of explanation would be pointless, as it’s something you would have to experience yourself. Let’s just say that the first episode really hit all the right buttons with me… it had an interesting story introduction, pretty awesome action, likable characters, and a developing love harem that has me intrigued. Hopes up high, I was ready to label Princess Lover! as another sleeper hit this season!

But then I watched the next three episodes after that, and it was then that’s where everything that made the first episode so strong and enjoyable seemed to have mysteriously vanished. Teppei’s main motivation for revenge seems to have been set aside for the real overdone high school romance comedy (sorry, but this is what I’m watching Hayate no Gotoku for), and the characters personalities seems to have really differentiated from the original personalities that I saw in the first episode. Teppei’s change is understandable, as he transforming from a party-hard average joe to a more eloquent and sophisticated man; however, it doesn’t mean I’m happy about it, because I’d rather would have seen the new society adapt to Teppei’s personality rather than vice-versa. Charlotte went from a fun-loving and playful fanservice character to an airhead who doesn’t wouldn’t know what boobs were even if you pointed at the two massive tumors that are swelling from her chest. I thought Slyvia was going to be the tsundere character of this show, but it turns out that she’s too good to have any real interesting personality at all, much less an overused one. Really, the only two characters I’ve grown to like so far are Seika and to a lesser extent Yuu. Thing about Seika is , she isn’t a very popular character amongst the people who are watching this, but I feel obligated to like her simply because she’s the only one with a realistic chest size. Not only that, but she seems to have stolen Charlotte’s playfulness to mix in her her tsundere trait, and she’s the character we’ve learned the most about right now.

The bad thing about this is that I already know Seika’s role is pretty much done, as her “issue” seems to have already been resolved in the course of one episode. Seika isn’t going to be the winner in the end, which means that most of the focus now is going to go to that hag-job of a woman Charlotte and the other two who have yet to get their one-episode worthy dilemna resolved. So this is where I ask… would it even be worth keeping up with this series then? It started off great, but it slowly reduced itself to a heaping pile of generic dog poo, and I already know the ending isn’t going to be anything to scoff at. I’m questioning if it would even be worth my time to watch the anime, or if I should just go play the damn visual novel and go through Seika’s path…

Sorry Princess Lover — you hooked me in at first, but it turns out that that was the real illusion. Perhaps I’ll find the real Princess Lover that the first episode got me to love so much somewhere else.

Extra Credit Question: Oh, and something I’ve completed forgot to ask. How was someone like Nezu allowed to exist, much less get accepted into the social club?

MvC2 will be available on Xbox live tomorrow for 1200 points. I am very excited for this, as I remember playing it at a friends house long ago and having a lot of fun (and sucking) And since Jill Valentine is in it, I would never forgive myself if I didn’t buy this game.

I am very much looking forward to constantly destroying Koromaru having lots of amazing battles with Koromaru!

With a new fiery ally at hand, Blade and the gang decide to make the next move and find out more about the man targeting them: Adam Arclight. Momiji has connections to an informant known as Disk, who tell them to meet at Iron Mountain, as the information regarding Arclight isn’t free. However, at the same time Arclight has a change of plans regarding Blade, and he now sends a trio of female subordinates to capture him so Blade’s body can become his.

You know, I don’t think anybody couldn’t have seen Arclight and Blade being brothers or clones coming. Turns out it’s the later, and it turns out that Arclight and Blade are the 78th and 79th clone of this project. Although it’s not very likely, it’s more amusing to think that there were once an army of 77 greased-up manly men running around Tokyo, and that honestly would have been a lot more engrossing than the serious plot they’re trying to feed us here (I’m probably getting a lot of strange looks right now). However, the most shocking thing to come out of this plot point was not the mummy filled flashback image, but the realization that the giant lump of something sleeping naked next to Arclight was the very well-endowed lady. For Arclight’s sake, I hope the chick isn’t the one on top.

Looks like Momiji is sticking around permanently, which confuses me as to why. It was brought to my attention last week that Blade hasn’t copied Eve’s powers possibly for the sake of giving her a useful role in all of this (or it’s just not possible, we don’t know the limits of Blade’s powers yet). So then, why have Momiji stick around as an ally? Blade has already copied his powers, and and he’s really not all that fascinating of a character compared to everyone else. He may grow on me as the series progresses, but if someone like Eve can outsmart you, then I can’t help but fear for your future.

Out of all the characters introduced so far, Saten has the best design (he looks like something straight out of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure) and it looks like he’s the only one out of Simeon would be able to go toe-to-toe with Blade. Another reason would be because his loyalties to Arclight seem to conflict with his own personal desires to kill Blade, but at the same time that lie about not knowing Blade’s whereabouts seemed unintentional as well, so I find it a little interesting.

I also find the unintentional sexual innuendos hilarious, because Arclight now wants Blade’s greased, steaming, muscular body all for himself. Sorry Breasts, but you saggy boobs aren’t enough to please a man with real desires such as Arclight. And I thought Momiji and Blade playing around with their “Little Boys” last episode was bad enough, but either this series is getting worse regarding this or my mind is just getting dirtier. I’ll stop here before I degrade myself any longer.

I also like how Simeon has their own special magical girl Testament fighting force, complete with a magical transformation theme song. That kind of music was the last kind of music I would expect to play with Saten anywhere near the screen.

So now we find out that Momiji knows about this secret know-it-all genie known as Disk, and they travel down into the sewers to hack into a communication system to speak with said genie, but Disk simply tells them that they have to go to Iron Mountain if they want info on Arclight. How long did Momiji know about this informant and when exactly did he pay for the password? Seems counterproductive to me if he goes to follow a baseless rumor instead of going to the informant in the first place, but then again he was outwitted by Eve… On the other hand, those two screencaps above are pretty awesome, and in a sense Momiji is starting to fit in with this ragtag group of wacky rebels. He has a good chemistry with the others, but his position as the group punching bad that would make even Cruz jealous just needs a little more oomph so I can feel that he’s a real part of the team. Oh, and I still think he looks like Gutsman, and his hair seems to get spikier and spikier everytime we see it.

I’ve been pondering ever since the start of this series as to whether or not the seemingly invincible Blade would have a weakness his future nemesis could exploit. Thanks to this little trip to Iron Mountain, it turns out that he has quite a common weakness after all. When one of the very friendly loli trio in the ending is coincidentally about to get raped by thugs over at Iron Mountain… Blade, the man who wouldn’t even save helpless old Gido last episode, went to her aid without a second thought. Blade has a soft spot for girls, but not just any girls, he has a weakness for the older brother loving little-sister loli archetype girl. This humor that the show excels at is the reason why I enjoy it so much; it wasn’t something that I was expecting at all, and I found it absolutely hilarious. And before some individual that will stayed unnamed (Cloud) tries and deny the fact that people with imouto complexes are not amusing, then need I point out another unfortunate fool with the same problem. And to add some icing to the cake, the once unfitting ending could be looked at as what shows up in Blade’s dreams?! Plus once the enemy finds out about Blade’s weakness, I’m sure they’ll have no trouble sending an army of lolis to obliterate Blade, so it’s a win-win situation for me.

So Mio (or Mio-tan, as Blade would say) catches on to Blade’s weakness quick, and deliberately puts on her innocent memory loss act to wiggle her way into Blade’s heart and allow her to be a part of the group. I failed to mention this before, but a sticker of the bear Mio carries around was on one of the magical girl Testaments that were sent to capture Blade, so this isn’t one big coincidence. I think Mio and the other two in her group being lolis might a coincidence, or someone at Simeon knows Blade all too well. Either way, I’m curious as to why Mio is dressed so strangely, why she is separated from the other two, and why she seemingly lost her Testament. Regardless, I imagine her spending time with the group will cause her to conform at some way, and eventually the other will share the same fate and officially join the wacky rebels soon.

The last couple of minutes of the episode is the only time where there’s any real action this time around, but they made up for it by getting my blood pumping up to all the over-the-top attacks while the instrumental version of Modern Strange Cowboy played in the background. Blade, Eve, and Momiji aren’t the only ones busting their buts though, as Mio seems to be stronger than her appearance would let on. Either Cruz is as light as air, or Mio is a very suspicious loli with super strength, yet none of them really seemed to have noticed.

Well then, remember when I told you the amount of lolis making an appearance in this show will increase thanks to Blade’s weakness? Well I was right, and they aren’t pulling any punches by waiting around and evenly distributing them. Turns out that Disk is a loli who’s a lot older than she looks (1000 years old, to be exact), much to Blade’s excitement (he even grows a wagging tail, haha). Not only that, but Mio’s two other loli-ish friends (one of them being a mute too) seem to have reached the outskirts of Iron Tower, and I’m expecting a confrontation between them and Blade’s gang next episode. I already can’t wait, and I’m sure Blade can’t either.

Overall thoughts:
Another enjoyable episode, but I will admit that it took a tiny step back from it’s predecessors. It focused a lot more on story development than crazy action, but to be fair it did a better job in hooking me into the story than the last episode did with a bunch of cranky old men sitting around a conference table.Turns out that Blade and Arclight are clones that are a part of the “Eden Project”, but I find it weird that Blade doesn’t seem to remember, yet Arclight remembers quite clearly. I’m also more curious as to what Saten’s going to do in the future; I was expecting Cruz’s sister to move on to the dark side, but will Saten eventually disobey Simeon in order to fufill his craving for Blade’s blood? I really want to see see Saten in action, because that could quite possibly be one of the few non-one sided fights in this series.

What the show hasn’t faltered in yet is the humor department.This episode further proves that this show isn’t afraid to make of itself, and that in turn allows me to laugh with it, not at it. Most of the quirky humor comes from the interactions of the characters and their zany personalities, and the continuous addition to the character roster not only create new gags, but it also further builds on the existing chemistry. To sum things up, I found the purpose of Momiji’s existence, and the longer the show goes on without taking itself seriously, the more I would probably end up enjoying it.

The show is just all around fun. If it keeps up a good balance of story, action, and humor, then this will continue to be one of my sleeper hits this season.

My collection. I'm sure Akihiko isn't complaining.

I never really got into the hobby of PVC figure collecting, mainly because most quality figures are damn expensive and I would have rather bought things I could use and not just display. I don’t know if it’s all the hype surrounding the upcoming Wonder Festival Summer 2009, or just browsing through Hobby Search’ catalog, but I seem to have grown quite fond of those beautiful pieces of plastic. I do have some figures, but my collection is quite pathetic and my shelves are so barren, so now I have dedicated the next couple of dollars I get to increases my figurine collection. They’re expensive, but now I believe it’s well worth it, especially since Hobby Search has this awesome points system going on. So yeah, it’s official, I have succumbed to the ways of figure collecting… and because of this, expect to see more figure posts in this blog too (and less of everything else, harhar).

Out of all the figure categories though, I think the Nendoroids attract me the most. They’re cheap AND they’re cute, so Nendoroid figures get top priority over everything else. :P